Thursday, September 20, 2018

Come Holy Spirit
with Thy seven-fold gifts and anoint us with Thy divine light, wisdom
and power. Come Lord Jesus Christ and anoint us with Thy Precious Blood,
freeing us from every snare and stronghold of the principalities and
powers of darkness. O Mother of God, glorious and Immaculate and ever
Virgin Mary, come and crush the head of the ancient serpent. O great
father St. Joseph, terror of demons, come and annihilate the enemies of
our souls. St. Michael, great prince and commander of the heavenly army,
strike down the insidious foes who seek to destroy us. Come glorious
band of Apostles, come great patriarchs and prophets; come white robed
army of Martyrs, come pure and noble throng of virgins. Come to our aid
Holy Mother St. Teresa, our Holy Father St. John of the Cross, St.
Elijah, St. Elisha, St. John the Baptist, St. Therese, all you Saints of
Carmel, St. Pio, St. Isaac Jogues and companions, St. Faustina, St.
Benedict, St. Francis, St. Anthony, St. Clare, our Guardian Angels,
Archangels, and all you Holy Angels and Saints, come repulse the attacks
and deceits of our wicked enemies; render them impotent and helpless.
Let God arise; let his enemies be scattered and all those who hate Him
flee before Him. As smoke is driven away, so are they driven away; as
wax melts before the fire, so the wicked perish at the presence of God.

Dear people who are ill, a special place is reserved for you
in the Church community. The condition of suffering in which you live
and the wish to recover health make you particularly sensitive to the
value of hope. To the intercession of Mary I entrust your aspiration to
bodily and spiritual well-being, and I exhort you to enlighten and
elevate it with the theological virtue of hope, a gift of Christ.

It will help you to give a new meaning to suffering, transforming it into a way of salvation,
an occasion for evangelization and redemption. Indeed, "suffering can
also have a positive meaning for man and for society itself, called as
it is to become a form of sharing in the salvific suffering of Christ
and in his joy as the risen one and, therefore, a power for
sanctification and the upbuilding of the Church" (Christifideles Laici, 54; cf. Encyclical Salvifici Doloris,
23). Your experience of pain, modeled on Christ's and indwelt by the
Holy Spirit, will proclaim the victorious power of the Resurrection.

The Pope wished to come among you to
tell you that Christ, who is always close to those who suffer, calls
you to him. Even more: to tell you that you are called to be “other
Christs” and to take part in his mission of redemption. And what is
holiness if not to imitate Christ, and identify with him? Those who
approach suffering with a purely human vision cannot understand its
meaning and can easily fall into despair; at most they may reach a
point of accepting it with a melancholy resignation to the
inevitable. We Christians, on the other hand, instructed in faith,
know that suffering – if we offer it to God – can transform us
into an instrument of salvation and put us on a pathway to sanctity,
which leads us to Heaven. For a Christian, suffering is a cause not
for sorrow but for joy: the joy of knowing that on the Cross of
Christ every one of our sufferings has a redeeming value.

Today, too, the Lord calls us saying
“Come unto me, who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you
rest.” Therefore, turn your gaze to him, in the sure hope that he
will give you relief, that in him you will find consolation. Do not
be afraid to show him your sufferings, and sometimes even your
solitude; offer him this together with your your daily crosses, large
and small, and so – even if they frequently seem to you unbearable
– they will not weigh you down, because it is Christ himself who
will carry them for you: “Surely he has borne our griefs and
carried our sorrows.” Following Christ on this path, you will feel
the inner joy of doing God's will. It is a joy that is compatible
with sorrow because it is the joy of the children of God, who know
they are called to follow more nearly on the road to Golgotha.

Tuesday, August 07, 2018

When faced by our limitations, we must have recourse to the practice of offering to God the good works of others.

-St. Therese of Lisieux

Remember that this
sweet Jesus is there in the Tabernacle expressly for you and you alone.
Remember that He burns with the desire to enter your heart. Do not
listen to satan. Laugh him to scorn, and go without fear to receive
Jesus.

-St. Therese of Lisieux

Your lot is indeed a
beautiful one, since Our Lord has chosen it for you, and has first
touched with His own Lips the cup which He holds out to yours.

-St. Therese of Lisieux

How short-sighted
His creatures can be! They find a soul whose lights surpass their own;
they think the Lord loves them less. Yet when did He lose the right to
use one of his children to provide others with the nourishment they
need?

Thursday, November 09, 2017

Been busy here trying my best to be a good daughter to my two beautiful, loving, unselfish, caring, praying parents. That's my number one vocation. It's not a "job"; it's a vocation, a calling on my life by God. It's also where my joy is!

Also have been doing a lot of reading for mostly Franciscan Media and Ave Maria Press, and also for Revell and Thomas Nelson. Am taking the week off from reviewing to listen to some of Kris McGregor's recordings of St. Teresa of Avila books, which are available for free through iTunes podcast store. Am especially listening to (and re-listening to) The Interior Castle, or, The Mansions by St. Teresa of Avila! Wow! Double wow! Triple wow! I'm not hearing this kind of truth out of the pulpit. I think our priests are too afraid of challenging the flock? But, like St. Therese of Lisieux said to do: Don't criticize priests; PRAY for them! Pray, is in humbly and lovingly, and gratefully.

Also, am reading titles from Ignatius Press, available through FORMED.org.

And also from FORMED.org, I have been having my proverbial socks knocked off by the brilliantly conceived/written/performed audio drama of Brother Francis: The Barefoot Saint of Assisi (Augustine Institute Radio Theatre performance).

Well, time to take the fresh bread out of the machine. God bless Cuisinart!

Just wanted to check in mainly to say sincerely: I am praying for you daily. God knows who you are, and what you need and want and are crying out to Him for. Do not be afraid! He is with you! He will never abandon or forsake you! He loves you! HE loves you! He LOVES you! He loves YOU!!!

God has created me to do Him some definite service. He has committed
some work to me which He has not committed to another. I have my
mission. I may never know it in this life, but I shall be told it in the
next. I am a link in a chain, a bond of connection between persons. He
has not created me for naught. I shall do good; I shall do His work. I
shall be an angel of peace, a preacher of truth in my own place, while
not intending it if I do but keep His commandments. Therefore, I will
trust Him, whatever I am, I can never be thrown away. If I am in
sickness, my sickness may serve Him, in perplexity, my perplexity may
serve Him. If I am in sorrow, my sorrow may serve Him. He does nothing
in vain. He knows what He is about. He may take away my friends. He may
throw me among strangers. He may make me feel desolate, make my spirits
sink, hide my future from me. Still, He knows what He is about.

Sunday, August 27, 2017

Thankful Sunday, August 27, 2017

My penmanship has failed me over the summer months due to a tremor caused by my illnesses. So, aside from overly personal matters, my gratitude journal is here for now. :)

On today's list of lovely things in my life are the following:

* Mignarda's album Magnum Mysterium (live) comprised of exquisitely performed duets for voice (mezzo soprano) and lute, and lute duets from the Renaissance era. This album is specifically Advent and Christmas. Was introduced to the music of Ron Andrico and Donna Stewart by way of Advent songs played at the beginning of daily prayers from the Divine Office of the Roman Catholic Church via the Divine Office app for Kindle Fire/iOs. What lovely, beautiful, soul lifting music! 'Tis a foretaste of Heaven!

* Lemon Bismarck donuts from our local bakery, located but five short blocks from home. Sooooooo very much better than the other big bakery in the city. Like Perkins French Silk pie, an excellently made donut is is proof that God loves us (says the baker's granddaughter).

* A gray and white Siamese Tiger kitty who trustingly looks to me for her food, drink, clean litter box, and clean blankies, not to mention time spent together on the couch or in my recliner.

* A very faithful, good friend with whom I've been friends for over 18 years (going on 19 years!).

* Despite being on disability income for so long and money being tight, God always, always, *always* provides for more than my needs. He also, when it is for the good of my salvation and for His glory, provides me with amenities. For six months I had the use of a friend's old iPhone 5s to use as a camera and MP3 player - as a glorified iPod touch device. But alas, the iPhone 5s went shall we say es kaput? Really, it's the battery that went bonkers. My parents gave me a new iPod touch 6th generation last week as an early birthday/Christmas present, so I am back to iOS normal. And.... I found out I can get a knockoff battery for the iPhone 5s from Walmart for a very small price. So, that will be my backup device. I got to take some great pictures with the iPhone 5s.

* I learned how to take screen shots of my Windows 10 desktop! Color me geeky!

* For the international IncrediMail community. It was so very, very, very nice while it lasted, before the up rise of mobile devices. I would still like to see "real" email make a comeback. Damn the iPhones! Damn the tablets! Let the world go back to desktop computers and to laptops/notebooks with real keyboards and pretty email using IncrediMail. It would be a saner, friendlier, more real and more loving world if we all would learn how to say things in more than emoji and brief texts. This rant will be continued at a later date.... I promise! In the meantime, I have note cards, paper stationery, pens, and postage stamps on my shopping list for Walmart next week.

* For the opportunity to review digital galleys of books from Franciscan Media and sometimes Ave Maria.

* Finally for tonight (I'm beginning to feel a bit snarky after an interrupted night of sleep last night - sonorous, blaring blasts of thunder all through the wee small hours). I digress! Finally for tonight: for the joy of being able to access a fantastic digital library from my home state of Wisconsin. I stopped going to the the "real" library years ago because it's a germ trap, second or third only to the grocery stores and the shopping mall. Or make that fourth after the medical clinic! With a compromised immune system, I have learned to avoid the germ traps whenever possible! I digress again: I love my state digital library. It's so very fun to take a leisurely stroll through the library in my pajamas and bunny slippers while sipping strong black coffee (or decaffeinated tea, whichever the case may be...). I'm reading a lot of Wisconsin history for the next month at least.

Well, off with me. I'm running off at the keyboard again!

Be glad! Be glad! Every debt that you've ever had has been paid up in full by the Blood of the Lamb! Be ye glad, be ye glad, be ye glad!

Blessings to you! I still pray for everyone who's ever been here to visit. I pray daily for you.

Monday, August 14, 2017

Together
with the angels and saints, giving them light so that they may have
knowledge of you, because you, Lord, are Light; inflaming them so that
they may love, because you, Lord, are Love: living continually in them
and filling them so that they may be happy, because you, Lord, are the
supreme good, the eternal good, and it is from you that all good comes,
and without you there is no good.

HALLOWED BE THY NAME.

May
our knowledge of you become ever clearer, so that we may realize the
width and breadth of your blessings, the steadfastness of your promises,
the sublimity of your majesty and the depth of your judgments.

THY KINGDOM COME,

So
that you may reign in us by your grace and bring us to your Kingdom,
where we will see you clearly, love you perfectly, be blessed in your
presence, and enjoy you forever.

THY WILL BE DONE IN EARTH AS IT IS IN HEAVEN:

So
that we may love you with our whole heart by always thinking of you;
directing our whole intention with our whole mind towards you and
seeking your glory in everything; spending all our powers and affections
of soul and body with all our strength in the service of your love
alone. May we also love our neighbors as ourselves, encouraging them to
love you as best we can, rejoicing at the good fortune of others, just
as if it were our own, and sympathizing with their misfortunes, giving
offense to no one.

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD,

Your
own beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, so to remind us of the love he
showed for us and to help us to understand and appreciate it and
everything he did or said or suffered.

AND FORGIVE US OUR TRESPASSES,

In
your infinite mercy, and by the power of the Passion of your Son, our
Lord Jesus Christ, together with the merits and the intercession of the
Blessed Virgin Mary and all your saints.

AS WE FORGIVE THOSE WHO TRESPASS AGAINST US,

And
if we do not forgive perfectly, Lord, makes us do so, so that we may
indeed love our enemies out of love for you, and pray fervently to you
for them, never returning evil for evil, anxious only to serve everybody
in you.

Friday, August 04, 2017

Encouragement for the Suffering Sick from Pope St. John Paul II:

Your Offering and Prayer Elevate the World

I
call on you to entrust your anguish to God the Father and to Christ,
through Mary; to ask of Him - more than resignation, and even more than
courage for your struggle - the grace of love and hope. Look at
the Cross of Christ with faith: although it is the instrument of immense
suffering, it is above all the sign of immense love, and the open door
to Resurrection, which is the ultimate response of the God of love to
His chosen Son.

May you offer
this handicap of yours together with Christ, and enter into redemption:
for your salvation, for the progress of the whole Church, for the
graces of conversion that our world needs! Remain faithful to prayer. Try to remain open to others,
without turning in on yourselves. Others have a lot to gain from your
experience as sick people and as believers. Often, your ordeal has
enabled you to acquire an outlook on existence and what is truly
valuable, and gain a new degree of patience, of courage, of solidarity,
of serenity at the prospect of death - in contrast with the anxiety of
those around you - and a mysterious union with God. To all this you can
bear witness, making manifest the promise of Jesus: "Blessed are those
who mourn, for they shall be comforted." Even in the silence of prayer,
and confined to your bed, you are in communion with the whole world, in
order to take part in redemption: your prayer and your offering elevate
the world.

Wednesday, May 03, 2017

“Entering a library in a thoughtful and reverent mood, we can stretch forth our hands and bid this, that, and the other of the most excellent of mankind to speak to us. In great books, we find a revelation of human character in its excellence and nobility that our personal experiences could never offer us.”

Thursday, March 30, 2017

This is Miss Margaret Ann McGee, Wild Celtic Kitty (still climbs the Christmas tree!). Maggie or Maglet for short. We adopted her from a local hobby farm, where she lived with the horses in the barn. She's part Tiger kitty and part Siamese.

God teaches me so much about life just by granting me the privilege to take care of Maggie.

I would try to wax on eloquently about the above sentence's theme, only I am running on possibly three hours of sleep for the past couple of days (allergic insomnia) and my mind isn't firing on all cylinders. Thus, I can't do my point justice tonight.

Did, however, want to show you how very Tiger-ish my little wonder-on-loan from Jesus is. In the above photo, she's a bit, shall we say, "Polluted" on catnip. Ha ha ha! Maggie is so silly on catnip!

Monday, March 27, 2017

I get a high from colors! Whenever I get blue or crabby, I get out a new box of Crayola crayons. Feasting my eyes on the happy, happy colors, I get out either a children's coloring book, or else (if I'm feeling more patient), my colored pencils for grown up coloring books. I especially like coloring positive words and phrases, most especially Bible verses! And when I'm feeling really flamboyant, I get out the big box of 50 colors of felt tip markers! Woot!

Take a gander at a medium-small box of happy!

And a happy, happy, happy Winnie-the-Pooh coloring book!

Blessings on your Monday, your entire week, and your entire life - God's most lavish, choicest, abundant blessings! May the Holy Spirit just "love on you" and bless you until you can barely stay inside of your own skin!

Much love in Jesus the Incarnate Word of God!

~Miss Chris, back to being a responsible grownup... it's Monday...

PS: The reason I blog in large font size and large photo and picture size is because I'm aware that a number of my blog readers are sight impaired. If it seems to lack "class" to some of the more sophisticated among you, I'm sorry. But this is the way it's going to be.

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

We've had bipolar weather here in Marshfield, Wisconsin USA these past number of months. Last week, we were near 60 degrees F. and this morning we are sitting in the single digits above Zero F. We get snow, and the snow melts in the spring-like warmth. Which would be nice in the month of April, but all winter long is just much too much too much! De trop! Bring on the cold and the snow! Below are a few pictures of a somewhat recent snowfall - nothing impressive like the two feet of snow that fell on the Eastern seaboard of the USA this week, but, it's pretty nonetheless. One shot is of Maggie the Kitty watching TV (the bird feeder, plus the bunnies beneath the spruce tree).I'm still hoping for more winter. Going to be warm again this week and weekend. Looking up real estate at the North Pole! That would indeed be the life. Bah humbug on summer and allergies, heat, humidity and violent tornadoes! Bah! Humbug, I say! My Northern Italian & Swiss blood clamors for snow!Off with me to listen to some Jerome K. Jerome, an audiobook of tremendous comedic proportions. Need some Vitamin L (laughter) in a huge dose!

Friday, February 17, 2017

Love does come in gray and white fuzzy suits, with whiskers, with purrs, and with meows.

Here are a couple of pictures of my little fuzzy Valentine, Miss Maggie McGee. She is better medicine and therapy than a lot of human beings I know, prescriptions prescribed, and I think Jesus custom made us for each other.

Here she is! Now go out and adopt a cat or dog, or a bunny, or a canary! You'll be ever so glad you did!

In this dog-eat-dog world, we get to feeling like if we are sick, broken, weak, vulnerable, and in general less than perfect, then Jesus doesn't love us. But nothing is further from the Truth! This is a stinking lie from the adversary to discourage us and rob us of our Good & Gentle Shepherd's care and tenderness, compassion and healing, love and mercy. Don't fall for lies! Jesus didn't come primarily for the perfect. Jesus came especially for the weak, broken, sick (in body, mind, spirit), and suffering - those of us who don't "have it together", in fact, for those of us who never, ever had it all together in our lives. He prefers those who are weak and vulnerable.Jesus came for the likes of you and me. And He loves us more than we can ask or imagine.Be at peace, child. And don't listen to hell's lies of discouragement and despair. Just don't listen to lies! Read God's love letter to you - the Bible. Jesus loves you. You personally. He is kinder to you than you are to yourself. He knows. He knows. He knows!My prayers go up for you each night and day.Much love to you,Christine

Wednesday, December 28, 2016

I wish you a Merry Christmas 2016! We are still within the Octave of Christmas, and even after that, we have much, much, much of the Christmas season left to celebrate, according to the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church! Is it the same in the Russian Orthodox Church liturgical calendar? And the Greek Orthodox? Inquiring minds want to know! Well, p'raps Wikipedia can shed some light on the answers for me!

Santa Claus brought me a fancy Kindle Fire HD 10 for my birthday (just turned 52 in November) and Christmas. While it is not the calibre of tablet that my mom's super, ultra fancy iPad Pro is as far as camera capability, it is good enough for me, as I still believe in (1) using real cameras, (2) taking pictures of things/people/cats/dogs/Christmas decorations other than myself (!!!). I am still learning how to use the camera facing me. It's been quite awhile since I've posted a photo of myself, as I am not a member of the Selfie Religion >^..^< - catty remark! The below photo is the best I can do for now. I'm not likely to try again for awhile.

***

I just finished watching Mikhail Baryshnikov in the 1977 version of The Nutcracker, on YouTube. I loved it all over again. The more recent versions of The Nutcracker which I've seen performed have left me cold. Baryshnikov is my favorite dancer ever. The full video is at https://youtu.be/0qScYCR5y5k . The ballerina dancing Clara's part is Gelsey Kirkland. Enjoy! It's a beautiful production - gorgeous!

***

I realize that Christmas Tide is a difficult and heart breaking season for many people. Please know that you are in my special prayers for Christmas joy, and gladness. It is so hard to be sad at Christmas time. I've been there. In fact, I still go there sometimes. You children of divorce and you divorced people/single parents know what I mean especially, as do the widows and widowers, and the parents of children who died young. I'm so very sorry. Jesus bless you and caress you with His tender love and compassion.

***

Am lining up some St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta quotations for the Saintly Quotations blog (www.saintlyquotations.com ) but hope to share some here soon. The Feast of the Holy Family is on Friday before New Year's. There are some really pertinent quotes for that feast.

Friday, November 18, 2016

Fortify me with the grace of your Holy Spirit and give your peace to my soul, that I may be free from all needless anxiety, solicitude, and worry. Help me to desire always that which is pleasing and acceptable to you so that your will may be my will. Grant that I may rid myself of all unholy desires and that, for your love, I may remain obscure and unknown in this world, and be known only to you. Do not permit me to attribute to myself the good that you perform in me and through me, but rather, referring all honor to your majesty, may I glory only in my infirmities, so that renouncing sincerely all vainglory that comes from the world I may aspire to that true and lasting glory, which comes from you.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

I've been having a struggle between embracing obscurity, and letting my light shine. This struggle seems to have gone on for ages. I strongly suspect that embracing obscurity is the high road, at least in terms of what I perceive as the Lord's will for me. But, I figure it can't hurt for me to at least drop in to the blog to say "Hello out there!" and "I'm praying for you!" once in awhile. (I really and truly do pray for all past, present, and future readers of my blogs, every day.)

There is so much to be grateful to Jesus for, but most of that belongs in my personal gratitude journal.

Do any of you keep gratitude journals? It is truly a great, healing, liberating-from-fear-and-worry practice. If you like, you can have an art journal-gratitude journal. I am finding that even if I'm having a really terrible migraine or fibromyalgia day, if I can just crack open that gratitude journal and scribble in one little word or sentence, it sets in motion the wheels of more things to at least whisper a heartfelt prayer of thanks to our Good God.

Have you recently read what Psalm 50 says about making a "sacrifice of thanksgiving", which is more pleasing to the Lord than many other kinds of sacrifice? Do you have health problems that make it difficult/impossible to fast from food? Then offer to the Lord a sacrifice of thanks!

It's not because He needs His ego to be stroked that He asks this of us! It's because He knows that it is good for US to give thanks to Him! "Because He is a Good Father! That's Who He Is! And YOU are loved by HIM - that's who you are!" (I'm borrowing that from a Casting Crowns song). He wants us to remember all the ways He has protected and taken care of us in the past, so that we may have stronger, greater, bigger faith and trust in His goodness in the things about which we are so concerned here in the present moment... and also about those things in the future which scare us so much.

About the only part of the Proverbs chapter 31 "perfect woman/good wife" thing that I understand and can really, really, really hear God calling me to grow in is asking Him for the grace to "laugh at the days to come". All that other stuff in there is kind of off the charts for me; it doesn't apply because I'm not married and I don't have kids! Maybe you're in the same boat. Want to learn how to laugh at the days to come? Then thank Jesus for today and its blessings.

God bless you, friends. Thank you for spending a little time here at my blog. Please know most importantly that I remember you in my daily prayers. Jesus knows who you are and exactly what blessings you have need and want of. Oh! Please trust in Jesus! He loves you so very much - so very, very, VERY much! He loves you more than you love yourself, and He loves you unconditionally, radically. He wants good things for you and those whom you care about even more than you want those good things! Open wide your mouths in praise and thanksgiving, and He will fill you with even more blessings. Please trust in Jesus! Please love Him in return! He waits for you to talk with Him each day. You really, really, REALLY matter to Him! You matter to Him a great deal. You are not insignificant in His kingdom! I say this to all of you, but especially to those of you who are facing health problems and mental health challenges, and who find that they can't keep up with being active in the church and in the world at this time. You are NOT insignificant! YOU MATTER VERY MUCH! The world is a much better place just because YOU are in it! Thank you for being you! Thank you for all the ways in which you've said "YES!" to the Holy Spirit's promptings - some of you even at the risk of your lives, some of you in more seemingly hidden ways! God sees! He knows! He understands! He will reward you!